The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis has just gotten a four-wheeled "Front Runner" piggyback car from TTX. The car is TTOX #130059, built in June 1984. Many of these cars are being scrapped in the St. Louis area and an inquiry to TTX resulted in them donating one. It is in good company with our ATTX #470833, built for the PRR (same #)in 1955, and CTA S-1500, formerly North Shore Line pioneer piggyback car #1500, built in 1926.

Museum of Transportation
rdgoldfede@aol.com

As many of you probably know, one of the pioneering C&O Roadrailer Vans has been preserved in Michigan as well. It is currently preserved at Sparta, Michigan. I believe the number is #168. I believe another one of the C&O Roadrailer vans has been preserved as well, but I forget where. Aarne, can you help me out here?

TJG

> The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis
> has just gotten a four-wheeled "Front
> Runner" piggyback car from TTX. The car
> is TTOX #130059, built in June 1984. Many of
> these cars are being scrapped in the St.
> Louis area and an inquiry to TTX resulted in
> them donating one. It is in good company
> with our ATTX #470833, built for the PRR
> (same #)in 1955, and CTA S-1500, formerly
> North Shore Line pioneer piggyback car
> #1500, built in 1926.


Port Huron Museum
peremarquette@hotmail.com

> As many of you probably know, one of the
> pioneering C&O Roadrailer Vans has been
> preserved in Michigan as well. It is
> currently preserved at Sparta, Michigan. I
> believe the number is #168. I believe
> another one of the C&O Roadrailer vans
> has been preserved as well, but I forget
> where.

There's one tucked under the back shed behind the B&O Museum roundhouse in Baltimore, Md.

lner4472@bcpl.net

Railroad Museum of New England rosters three New Haven piggyback cars, two 1937-built 50 foot all-welded flats that were set up for piggyback service in the early 1940s, and a 1951-built 40 foot, one-piece-casting car, built as a piggyback car. All of these cars were used for carrying the then-standard 35-foot trailers. One of the 50-footers has been restored, and currently carries a load of new switch timbers. Our search for a good 1940s vintage trailer continues.

hpincus@mindspring.com

> As many of you probably know, one of the
> pioneering C&O Roadrailer Vans has been
> preserved in Michigan as well. It is
> currently preserved at Sparta, Michigan. I
> believe the number is #168. I believe
> another one of the C&O Roadrailer vans
> has been preserved as well, but I forget
> where.

A number of years ago a RoadRailer was donated to the Muskegon Railroad Historical Society at Muskegon, Michigan. I have not been there for some years and don't know if this is the one now at Sparta; I believe there may indeed be two in Michigan. Michigan C&O fans will recall when every junkyard in west Michigan seemed to have a stack of RoadRailer trailer bodies following cessation of RoadRailer mixed-train service in the late 1960's. One complete with rail running gear was found at the Louis Padnos scrap concern at Holland and donated by them to the group at Muskegon.

In the interest of promoting Michigan tourism, the Padnos scrap operation is notable for its small Diesel switchers and whimsical sculptures made from scrap and industrial junk such as a Diesel boat crankshaft. It is one of two industries still reached by former Pere Marquette street trackage in Holland. Very quaint territory.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867-0665

froboma@mdot.state.mi.us

Any updates on the equipment mentioned in this thread - especially the C&O roadrailer with its rail equipment?

Tom Cornillie

I think the original thread was titled TTX, and now seems to have morphed into any piggyback car. In addition to the TTX car preserved at IRM, we have CNS&M 1502 (1926 piggyback car) but missing the trailer pedestals and hold downs.

If morphing is fair game, we also have one of the TMER&T very early container cars - M37 - built 1931, and we have one of the containers as well.

Bob Kutella

Can you tell us more about the early electric traction container cars, especially TMERT?

The C&O RoadRailer at the West Michigan Railway Historical Society's depot in Sparta is the one formerly in Muskegon- the WMRHS took it in when the Muskegon group was turned out of its former location.

I'm not certain that the C&O extended-vision caboose that's on the property there came as part of the same transaction, but I suspect that it did.

I am actually co-authoring an article on this topic, and my co-author presented this research this past fall at the annual meeting of the International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility. In short (because I don't have much time at the moment) both steam roads, interurbans, and some street railways were all looking at various forms of small containers as a way to handle less-than-carload shipments after WWI. The electric railways were quickly adding freight services at this time to compensate for declining passenger revenues - and containerization offered some hope. In my analysis, (conducted in part by closely inspecting the container and container car at IRM) The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light (TMER&L) developed the most advanced form of containerization which included building a freight station designed specifically to accomodate container cars and containers. This remarkable building was demolished almost a year ago (Feb. 2006) - and while it was a local landmark - it appears no physical historical documentation was done on this remarkable building.

In the course of my research through the various railroad peridocals of the time (Railway Age, street railway journal, electric railway journal, etc. ) I have found little mention of the TMER&L container service. If anyone here has leads on primary or secondary sources I would love to hear about them.

Tom Cornillie

Not primary source, but CERA Bulletin 112 “TM”, published in 1972, has a bit more information. It claims 16,985 container loads hauled in 1937.

The containers were small aluminum things about twelve or sixteen feet long, hardly bigger than a suburban “yard barn” today. The CERA book has a photo of a tank container, also, but no roster of container equipment. This was apparently a closed system; all container equipment in the photos is lettered for TMER&L and street drayage was by subsidiary Motor Transport Co.

The eleven container cars, M-33 through M-43 were 51’ long and looked like short arch roof baggage cars with end doors and a single off-center door on each side. The containers were winched into the car through the end with an electric winch mounted under the car, and out again with a winch on the truck, driven by the truck engine.

IRM’s M-37 ended its career at the Lakeside power plant as a “pumper”. I believe this car had an electric fire pump installed in its empty interior for potential fire fighting at the coal transfer/storage yard about five miles from the plant. Lakeside converted from coal to gas/oil firing about 1968, but kept the railroad and coal machinery intact. The last I’m aware of it running was in the winter of ’72-’73 (or possibly one year earlier or later) when they were bringing oil in by rail as a supplementary fuel.

IRM’s container was one of several that ended up as storage sheds at the TM’s sprawling Coldspring Shops, which became a bus shop after the street railway was abandoned. There is another identical container used as a shed on the East Troy, WI trolley operation.

Dennis covered it pretty well. I might add that the cars were 'homebuilt' by the TM, weighed in at 50,000 lbs, and rode on St Loius 23AE trucks. Type HC brakes - which from an external view looked almost exactly like type KC brakes.

Bob Kutella

Nothing substantive to add, just a photo of container car M37 (which is being intermittently worked on by IRM volunteers) from the Fallen Flags site: